You walk into a room. All around the room, there are 300 people shouting praises and their hands are raised towards the sky. They don’t notice the other people around them. In that moment, it’s just them and the One they’re praising. They speak in tongues, they scream out with complete abandonment, they’re on their knees… You know the moment you walk into the room that there is something more going on than what you’re able to see in the physical realm. These people have their eyes set on the things above and they are praising with their whole beings. These people are gathered for one purpose and that is to fulfill the Great Commission and make the Word of God known to all the world.
Welcome to World Race training camp.
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On June 8th, I left home for a little while and entered into a community that would forever change me. Not only was the Holy Spirit present in every aspect of the 10 days of training camp, but He was WELCOMED. There wasn’t a moment in the day that wasn’t intentional and purposeful in order to expand the Kingdom.
We slept in tents (and enos), ate way less than any of us were used to, took bucket showers in very cold water, sweat more than we would like to admit, were overrun by mosquito bites…and Jesus showed up for every moment.
It was probably the most growing week and a half of my life. God revealed things about myself and what I hold captive in my heart that I never realized before. Not only did He reveal those things to me, but He allowed me to RELEASE them, and in their place, HE took my heart captive.
I’m walking away from training camp differently than when I walked in. I see God more for who He is and I see myself more for how He made me to be. I’m walking away seeing vulnerability, with myself, with God and with others, as a strength instead of the weakness I believed it to be for the longest time. I see that when I don’t allow myself to feel, I’m blocking myself from the intimacy Jesus so desperately wants to have with me.
I don’t want to miss out on Jesus just because of the misconceptions I have of what I should be like.
I now see myself, and choose to see myself, not as weak or too much or not enough. I see myself as His daughter, His beloved, His chosen heir. I am precious and strong and worthy and called to higher things.
I got a glimpse of Heaven at camp. When I looked around at the group of men and women gathered for the sole purpose of expanding His Kingdom and fulfilling the Great Commission, I couldn’t help but feel like this was what we will enter into when we pass from this life into the next.
With that being said, while I was away, some incredibly tragic things took place in our world. There were hate crimes, and seemingly senseless acts of violence. It’s in these moments that it’s really easy to believe there is no good left in the world.
However…
Even when these horrible things were happening, there were over 300 people in one place worshipping Jesus, learning how to effectively share His love all around the world.
Even when these horrible things were happening, there were 12 separate squads of missionaries from World Race alone all over the globe sharing the Good News.
Even when these horrible things were happening, Jesus’s name was being lifted high and it was being glorified.
He is so much greater than the things right before us. No, worshipping Him didn’t make CNN, and Fox News didn’t do a segment on what Jesus did in the hearts of the 300 people that said yes to Him…but it happened and it was so good.
In the midst of it all, He is still good and in control!
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Man, I am so ready for 9 months of saying “YES!” to Jesus with my entire squad and choosing to seek after things greater than us. If training camp was any indication of what community with those 50 people look like, I simply cannot wait. There was no way I would walk out of training camp the same person I was when I walked in. I am so grateful for that, and for the fact that Jesus is nowhere near done with me and my team!
